Army to get artillery guns from September

Army to get artillery guns from September

News:

1. The Army will be inducting two types of artillery guns into its arsenal very shortly.

Important facts:

2. These will be the first induction of heavy artillery since the Swedish Bofors guns imported in the 1980’s.

3. The Army will start taking delivery of the K9 Vajra-T tracked self-propelled artillery guns from South Korea.

4. The first regiment of 18 guns is expected to be ready by the third quarter of 2019.

5. All the 100 guns will be delivered by Nov 2020.

6. It will also receive four M777 ultra-light howitzers from the U.S. The M777 is a 155-mm, 39-calibre towed artillery gun .

7. The first 10 guns will be imported from South Korea and the rest manufactured by L&T in India.

8. Last year, the Indian engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Hanwa Techwin of South Korea signed a contract to manufacture the K9 Vajra-T guns.

9. The K9 was shortlisted by the Army after extensive trials.

10. K9 Vajra-T is a 155-mm, 52-calibre self-propelled artillery gun with a maximum range of 40 km, customised from the original K9 Thunder gun. The fire control system has been customised for desert conditions to the requirements of the Army.

11. In November 2016, India signed a deal for 145 M777 ULHs with the U.S. under the Foreign Military Sales programme .